Buffalo Man Pleads Guilty To Cocaine And Fentanyl Possession And Gun Possession

CONTACT: Barbara Burns
PHONE: (716) 843-5817
FAX #: (716) 551-3051

BUFFALO, N.Y. - U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Marcus Adside, 30, of Buffalo, NY, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute cocaine and butyryl fentanyl, and possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime before U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara. The charges carry a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison, a maximum of life, and a $1,000,000 fine. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Patricia Astorga, who is handling the case, stated that in the early morning hours of August 5, 2016, Buffalo Police Officers conducting patrol encountered the defendant on 19th Street near Hampshire Street. As officers drove past, Adside yelled, “I’m not doing nothing!” The defendant then grabbed onto a large bulge in his right front pants pocket and took off running into an alley between two houses on Hampshire Street near 19th Street. 

Officers began a foot pursuit, and during the chase, Adside threw a clear baggie containing controlled substances into a backyard area off the alley and a sock containing a loaded firearm over a fence in the same alley. He was apprehended shortly after.

Subsequently, officers recovered a 9mm ammunition magazine containing eight rounds; a sock containing a handgun, a clear plastic baggie containing eight loose glassine envelopes with powder, and one plastic bag holding seven smaller plastic bags containing a total of 70 glassine envelopes with powder. Testing determined that the bags contained butyryl fentanyl and cocaine. 

The plea is the result of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Ray Donovan, New York Field Division, and the Buffalo Police Department, under the direction of Commissioner Byron Lockwood.

Sentencing is scheduled for June 14, 2019, at 12:30 p.m. before Judge Arcara.